A group blog to promote discussion, debate and insight into the history, particularly religious, of America's founding. Any observations, questions, or comments relating to the blog's theme are welcomed.

How Ghastly Were the Beginnings of European America?

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You just cannot stop your anti-American, revisionist nonsense can you? You should be ashamed of yourself/ I had thought it was just a personal problem with you--a neurosis of some sort, most likely a Daddy problem--but now I see you are just another neo-communist propagandist.

Bailyn, BTW is just another leftist revisionist hack (as are most of the "writers" you love to cite hereabouts). His Ph.D was from Harvard and he is on their faculty, facts which should tell you all you need to know. IT is the usual "liberal" (read communist) academic psuedo intellectual hogwash we get out of the Nemenklatura of the Democrat Party. Nothing but propaganda.

There is something deeply and tragically flawed in people like you. It is a false pride masking self-loathing. You are shamed by the past. The great work of those who went before is so beyond your mediocrity that you must try yo destroy it lest you have to face what a cipher you actually are. Had you live during those times, It is doubtful that you would have survived past your twenties. If you actually knew something about world history, particularly the times at issue here, you would understand American Expectionalis,, and understand that it is indeed an historical fact.

You live in a wholly imagined world and possess a false consciousness, and it all due to an almost adolescent narcissism.

You should be ashamed of yourself, but you are beyond shame. The world you wish to create with this revisionist claptrap and Left wing agiprop is as Hell on earth.

I think Americans should learn more hate for the Europe that our forebears fled.

Neither should we romanticize the Native Americans [or, natives of the Americas] as any kind of "noble" savages. Nothing any more noble about them than the Europeans, and indeed perhaps they were somewhat less savage.

Charles C. Mann's "1491" in magazine article form. A must!

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/302445/

Basically, all things considered, even with human sacrifice in the Americas, Europe sucked even worse.

From what I read the 17th century was brutal (both sides of the Atlantic.)

Interesting that the reviewer has reservations on the brutality of the Indians. Anthropologist Lawrence H. Keeley demolishes the myth of the noble savage in his book "War Before Civilization." Looks like Bailyn got the memo but most academics seem to have a hard time abandoning the "noble savage" thesis. I recommend Keeley's book both for its discussion of pre-history and his criticism of his own profession.

The reviewer also complains about Bailyn's view that multi-ethnic communities saw more strife. Once again folks, this is the 17th century. Those things mattered.

Of course, the change from 1675 (where the book leaves off) to 1775 is most interesting. I hope Bailyn has a few more books left in him.